Ostensibly in retaliation to Western media’s coverage of anti-Chinese demonstrations in Europe, the Sports Network website was hacked last Sunday. The site was defaced with the image that you see here (captured by ChristineLu.com). Repeated attacks, most probably serious denial-of-service assaults, have caused the site to be taken down. After a few days, the site was still inaccessible.

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The last TechnoKapihan, which happened on April 2nd, was not a very successful event, in my opinion. Not a failure, mind you, but disappointing. For one, there were less than a dozen who attended; although, there was a hopeful sign: we had three or four first-timers. The old guard were there, but sans a couple of mainstays due to business trips.

However, it’s not only the number of participants that’s in consideration here. The Davao TechnoKapihan is ideally an industry-wide coming together for discussion, planning, catching up on the latest… all for the purpose of somehow getting the Davao IT industry moving forward. But the event has never gotten everybody together at all.

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The last TechnoKapihan, which happened on April 2nd, was not a very successful event, in my opinion. Not a failure, mind you, but disappointing. For one, there were less than a dozen who attended — although, there was a hopeful sign: we had three or four first-timers. The old guard were there, but sans a couple of mainstays due to business trips.

However, it’s not only the number of participants that’s in consideration here. The Davao TechnoKapihan is ideally an industry-wide coming together for discussion, planning, catching up on the latest… all for the purpose of somehow getting the Davao IT industry moving forward. But the event has never gotten everybody together at all. •••Read on»

In a recent article at TechCrunch.com, it was reported that the Japanese government is considering a move to crack down on file sharing (read: Torrent or Kazaa). In Japan, the most popular peer-to-peer (P2P) network for the distribution of computer files is Winny. In simple terms, “P2P” is defined as the combined connectivity and bandwidth of Internet-enabled PCs that do not depend on a server to propagate. Such a network has a number of functions, but it was only natural that Netizens have become its largest user base.

When P2P networks exploded in the late 90s after the much-ballyhooed Napster, the first to feel the brunt was the music industry. When techies began circulating songs in mp3 format through the Internet, it didn’t take long for music enthusiasts to catch on and embrace the technology. •••Read on»

Inquirer.net reported yesterday that a college in Pasay City, the Southeastern College (SEC), is bringing a lawsuit against software giant, Microsoft Corp., and its in-country subsidiary, Microsoft Philippines. The case is that MS Phils. has allegedly infringed on copyright laws, in that the college’s intellectual property rights were allegedly encroached upon.

The news article elaborated that the complaint was based on SEC’s belief that MS Phils. distributed electronic copies (in the form of .pdf files and email) of the document, The SEC Microsoft Office XP Manual. This document was apparently licensed to MS Phils. for a limited number of reprints (10,000 copies, according to the report), but SEC is taking legal action to prove that MS Phils. has gone beyond the letter of their copyright license. •••Read on»

Silicon Gulf is a nickname for Davao City and extends to the Davao Region, at Southern Mindanao, Philippines. The nickname refers to the growing number of Information Technology and IT Enabled Services (or ITES) companies sprouting in the area. The name was adapted from Silicon Valley, referring to the high tech cluster located in the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California.

[Source]

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Up until this year, brownouts were rare in Davao City. Well, when I was in high school it was rather common, even expected, especially during summer. But for years, Davao has enjoyed practically zero brownouts since then.

The Davao Light & Power Co. is even an awardee for being one of the best power companies in the Philippines.

But now, in the past couple of weeks there have been 4 or 5 power outages that I’ve noticed. Just before I started writing this article there was no power in the Matina area. Electricity went dead around 2o’clock in the afternoon, and came back on almost half an hour later. What is the reason behind this? Is Davao Light upgrading their systems? Or am I being overly optimistic?

Or is it that Davao — possibly Mindanao — is experiencing a serious shortage of power supply? •••Read on»

Soon after the opening of the PhilNITS branch in Davao City, there has been positive movement within the Japanese I.T. community in the Philippines. Where before they have only paid lip service to initiatives in promoting Davao I.T. to the Japanese market, now these entities (private and government) are in fact looking towards the South as a viable investment and outsourcing destination. But more so, as a source of I.T. manpower.

PhilNITS is engaged in the development of high-tech skills. Japan is in dire need of highly-skilled skilled personnel. Hence the bullish outlook of Davao City as an I.T. center by Japanese companies and government agenices. But we must not be overly optimistic.

This renewed industrial interest in Davao City (dormant ever since the heyday of abaca plantations) is not necessarily driven by the presence of a robust I.T. industry here. It is fueled rather by Japan’s own requirements. According to the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), their country is in need of 150,000 I.T. engineers annually. The inability to address this has finally allowed Asian countries with strong I.T. industries to receive offshore projects from Japan, especially China, India and Vietnam. It was published in a report that the Philippines receives less than half of what Vietnam gets in terms of outsourced projects for software development and animation. •••Read on»

VeriSign, the company that globally manages the two most popular top-level domains (TLDs), has announced that it will raise the wholesale rates of .com and .net domain names this 15th of October 2007. Domain names ending in .com, from $6.00, will be increased to $6.42; and .net domains, from $3.50 to $3.85.

This rather huge increase will necessarily mean that domain registrars and resellers will have to increase the retail prices of these domain names. I use ctcd.com, and they currently sell domain names for $8.94 per year. This rate is indeed a far cry from the time when Internet addresses sold for $35 per year, but — in Internet time — that was ages ago when Network Solutions held the monopoly. •••Read on»

The 18th of September 2007 was an auspicious day for Davao I.T. That day saw the inauguration of the Davao branch of the Philippine National I.T. Standards (PhilNITS) Foundation. Formerly known as JITSE-Phils., PhilNITS has for 5 years been involved in uplifting the quality of I.T. professionals in the country, via a certification program that is recognized all over Asia and the world. PhilNITS currently carries two certification examinations: the Fundamental I.T. Exam (”FE”) and the Software Design & Development Exam (”SW”).

PhilNITS-Davao is basically a training and review center for the benefit of Davao- and Mindanao-based I.T. professionals who plan to take the aforementioned exams. It is located at the 5th floor of Mintrade building on Monteverde Ave. It is where the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) - Region 11 has its offices. Furthermore, according to Ms Maricor Akol, president of PhilNITS Foundation, the training center — which is, for one, equipped with top-of-the-line computers provided by Fujitsu — may also be used for seminars and workshops on skills building for SMEs. This is in line with the DTI’s thrust in developing the local I.T. industry by enhancing the technological know-how among Davao’s SMEs. The DTI, hand-in-hand with the ICT Industry Cluster of the Regional Development Council - Region 11, will be coming up with a series of training modules in order to achieve this goal.

What are the benefits of a PhilNITS certification? •••Read on»